Why did Marcus Aurelius allow German invaders to settle inside the Roman Empire?

Answer 1

Marcus Aurelius did not allow Germanic (not German) invaders to settle inside the Roman Empire. He allowed certain small groups of soldiers to settle in the empire. He also sent some Iranian-speaking soldiers to Britain.

First of all, they were not German invaders. The Germans did not exist beck them. They were Germanic peoples, the ancestors of the modern peoples who speak the modern Germanic languages (German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and English). There were dozens of Germanic peoples. More specifically, the Germanic peoples who threatened the empire at the time of Marcus Aurelius were the Marcomanni and Quadi, Naristi, Chatti, Cauchi, Hermunduri, and various other peoples.

Marcus Aurelius had to face a series of invasions to the by various Germanic peoples into Belgium, the Alpine area, and from across the river mid-Danube River. There were also invasions by Iranian-speaking peoples from across the lower Danube. Marcus Aurelius fought two wars (the Marcomannic Wars) in which he repelled these invasions and defeated the enemies in their territories outside the Roman Empire.

Marcus Aurelius did not allow the invaders to settle inside the Roman Empire. What happened was that when he defeated enemies, he forced them to supply the Romans with soldiers to serve as auxiliary troops. These were troops which supported the Roman legions. The Marcomanni, Quadi and Naristi were forced to supply soldiers for the Romans. The Hasbingi Vandals and the Lacringi allied with Rome and supplied soldier to the Romans voluntarily. Some of these Germanic soldiers were allowed to settle inside the empire.

When Marcus Aurelius defeated the Iazynges (an Iranian-speaking people) he forced them to supply 8,000 auxiliary cavalrymen. Five thousand of these men were sent to serve in Britannia